Shopify

Shopify dominates e-commerce with its ease of use, app ecosystem, and reliable checkout. But its pricing ($39/month for Basic plus 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction) and limited customization beyond themes have driven technically capable teams toward headless commerce alternatives.

Medusa is an open source headless commerce engine with a modular architecture — it handles products, orders, payments, shipping, and inventory through APIs, letting you build any frontend you want. Saleor provides a similar headless approach with a GraphQL API, dashboard for operations, and strong multi-channel support (web, mobile, POS).

The headless approach unlocks performance and design freedom. Instead of Shopify's Liquid templates, you build your storefront with Next.js, Nuxt, or any frontend framework — achieving superior page speed, custom checkout flows, and pixel-perfect design. For brands where the shopping experience is a competitive advantage, this flexibility matters.

The transaction fee difference adds up quickly. Shopify's Basic plan charges 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction (or 2.6% + 30¢ with Shopify Payments). Self-hosted Medusa or Saleor integrated with Stripe charges only Stripe's fee (2.9% + 30¢) with no additional platform fee. For a store processing $50,000/month, eliminating Shopify's platform fee saves significant revenue.